Interconnected
by GW Katrina
Summary: Zack Fair died on the cliffs outside of Midgar. Or did he? Jenova doesn't die that easy, and neither do those who carry it in their blood. Fixit fic. Set after Advent Children.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own these guys, just the cracktastical brain that lets me come up with the story ideas. A/N at the bottom.**

Of all the things that bothered Zack the most with this, it was that he was alone that made him wish for something to happen.

Oh, he doesn't wish Spike was here. That much was very clear in his head. It'd be nice to know if the kid was okay, and what happened. He doesn't remember much after spotting the glow of Midgar, and hurrying for it, all his reserves stripped and them being hunted more than ever. Cloud was a heavy weight on his shoulder. Years of mako and treatment hadn't really bulked him up anymore than the military had already done, but it made those muscles denser, heavier.

He remembers pain, though he can't remember why he hurt. It was an odd feel, and he found he did not care for it at all. Still, if he knew what had happened, he was sure that more things would make sense.

It had hurt, and he was sure he had heard Cloud screaming, but that might have just been a hallucination. Spike hadn't really talked in over a year, since long before he had finally broken them out. _Too long, too long, waited too long_, a voice whispered at him. And it had been. If he had done it sooner, maybe Spike would have still be talking, be aware. Maybe they could have made it to Midgar, to Aeris, and others. Maybe it would have done some good.

But it didn't seem to have done so. He wasn't sure if the blond had gotten away, or if they were just holding them separately. Separate rooms, separate labs, just away from each other. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Well, if they thought that, they were nuts. He wasn't going to forget Spike. Was going to get out of here and get his friend and get the fuck away from Shinra.

Not that he had seen any scientists in a long time. Zack was sure it had been a long time, anyway. Mako and the labs were hard on his time sense. He remembered when he had found out years had passed in the labs the first time. Years. Not the months, or maybe even one or two years that he had thought possible on the outside edge. Years. Four years of their lives, gone. Nibelheim was repaired, and people moving around, acting as if their town had never burned. He was surprised as many survived the disaster as it seemed had. Remembered so many bodies, so many people who Seph had killed.

His mind shied away from the scene, and he grimaced. Another effect of the mako. Not only did it fuck with his time sense, it made it hard to keep his focus at times.

Absently, he wondered when the scientists would come back. He couldn't remember the last time they had come and dragged him out of the mako and did whatever to him. He didn't like the idea, but he needed out of the mako. Things were getting too fuzzy at times, and at others he found it hard to breath. Poisoning, maybe. They had always warned about that, and he remembered seeing Spike, eyes green and the pupils just little points.

He wondered how the kid was.

He wondered if he had found Aeris. Aeris would take good care of him. She'd feed him up right and make sure that he got better. That was good. Maybe the kid would remember some of their talks and get a message to Rufus.

Gods, another kid who was going to kick his ass after this was all over.

Zack was going to get out. He just knew he was. And when he did, he was going to go visiting all those people who were important to him. Take Aeris with him, go visiting. She'd love his parents, and he just knew that they'd be nuts for her. Probably start pestering him about grandkids.

But that was all for later. After he got out of this lab, again. Then he had to make sure that Spike wasn't in a lab somewhere else, and he really hoped he wasn't. Spike didn't deserve that. He was a good kid, and he had done what he had to do. Did better than Zack had.

He wondered if his cousin was still mad at him. She had been a little spitfire back then, and furious at him joining SOLDIER.

Probably. She always did know how to hold a grudge. Well, he was done with Shinra. Maybe she'd forgive him. Though he never did find out what he had joined to find out. Got to meet Seph, though. That had been worth it.

He wondered if he would ever find out what had caused his friend to lose it like that?

He wondered if Spike was doing okay?

And so, trapped in mako, Zack's thoughts wandered in circles yet again.

TBC...

**Well, this is one of those stories that I just had a write. Don't worry, Zack'll be having a better time of it in the next chapter. And remember to review. I love it when people favorite or alert my stories, but what really gets the characters talking is hearing back from people about if they like the story. The more you guys actually comment and say anything, the faster I write. Reviews are the only sort of reward I get for writing, and they definitely encourage me to write faster. Not a demand, but definite encouragement to let me know what you guys think.**


	2. Chapter 2

Gods, she really hated this job. A lot.

Still, the NWO was paying her good money, but, still, she was going to have nightmares forever because of this job. Who knew this was what Shin-Ra had been up to? There had to be some human experimentation, but nothing on this scale. And given some of the other things she had seen popping up in the notes, she wondered what else was done to things that really hadn't deserve it.

She had met the creature that came to visit Reeve from time to time. Red was a wonderful, interesting person to talk to, and it made her slightly sick what might have happened to him before. She was aware that he had been in Hojo's labs at some point of time. Red XIII showed up in various notes she had seen, and she found it hard to imagine some of them. Those she hadn't read, but had set aside, and given to Reeve himself, so that Red could decide what to do with them on his own.

Still, picking through these abandoned, forgotten labs, trying to figure out what Hojo and the other scientists had left behind when the world had gone mad, made her realize just how horrid people could be to each other at times.

"Dr. Solita, is everything all right in there?"

"Yes, Michaels. Thank you."

Her own personal armed escort. It was sad that she needed one. But between the fact that some of the labs weren't as abandoned as they could have been, and a large number of specimens that had escaped, it wasn't safe to go alone, or even with a small group of assistants. They had an armed escort, people who were trained in monster hunting, and she was sure that one or two of them might even have been SOLDIERs. Not many of them were still around, but she figured it was because they didn't want any trouble with people who still blamed Shin-Ra for everything. And SOLDIERs were so easy to identify, and Shin-Ra was so closely tied to them...well, she didn't blame them for hiding out.

It was good to have people she could trust at her back, though, and she and her team did their best to quickly clear the systems.

It looked as if they were getting to the last rooms of this system, though, and she was happy for that. A hot meal and a place to stretch out were sounding pretty good right now, and she couldn't wait to get done for the night.

Eyeing the door, which was blocked by a fallen filing cabinet, she looked around, and sighed. "Michaels, if you could, would you come assist me with this?"

She could have gotten the cabinet herself. Simple leverage. But more than once, when they had come across this same scene, it was because there was something dangerous behind the door that had been blocked. Usually a monster. Most of the time, the experiment was dead, but things had lived far longer than expected at times, and all it had taken was opening the door on one starving monster to teach them all a lesson.

So, after waiting for Michaels to join her, Solita moved the cabinet. The sounds of machinery behind the door were clear, and she waited for the man to nod before pushing open the door, ready to drop if there was something in there and clear the firing path.

It was the green glow of mako that met her eyes, and she sucked in a breath. Mako always seemed to lead to the worst things.

In the room was a tank. No monster, and so she let Michaels past, and then followed him. Was that a human? Oh, gods, it was.

Feeling her stomach twist, she felt sick. Gods, another victim. She wondered who it was, this poor soul who had been tortured and died for Hojo's experiments.

Then the man's eyes opened.

Shrieking slightly, feeling foolish even as she did it, but too startled to hold it in, she heard the man beside her suck in a breath.

"We need to call President Reeve."

She nodded absently, already reaching for her phone to have the message sent along.

"Tell him we found First Class SOLDIER Zack Fair, former second in command to General Sephiroth."

Well, hells.

She placed the call, wondering what was going to happen next.

/

He wasn't sure what was going on. There was movement, and that wasn't something he remembered seeing in a long time. Noise caught his attention, and he couldn't help but open his eyes. That took a bit. He couldn't remember how things connected, and was pretty sure he had twitched his fingers and maybe his toes before getting his eyes open. Stupid body parts, getting all confused.

But now he had it, and he looked out. For a moment, all he saw was green. That was all he ever saw, and then there was a strange sound, an odd feel.

Suddenly, the green was gone, and he found himself stretched out on cold floor, something draped over him. A jacket? Something, and he blinked fuzzily at it before looking at the moment. Doctors? Not? He wasn't sure. The man looked familiar, and he wasn't sure how he knew him.

"Sp-ke?" He could feel his throat ache. Hadn't used it in forever. The woman on his other side, who was taking his vitals, paused.

"Who? What's your name?"

"'m Zack. Where's Spike?" Still rough, but he could feel his voice starting to smooth out.

"Spike?"

Damnit, why did they have to ask questions. Given the situation, he had figured they weren't with Shin-Ra, and maybe were here to get him out. "Strife. Cloud Strife."

A moment of quiet, and a faint cough.

"Hells," muttered the woman. "You would have hard questions."

"Cloud Strife is recovering from where he saved the world. Again."

For a moment, Zack was sure he was being made fun of, then he realized that the man was being serious. He stared at him harder, and then his eyes widen. "You aren' kidding..."

What the hell had he been missing?

The man shook his head. "You've missed a lot, sir. Trust me. We'll get you updated as soon as we can. Why don't you rest for now. It'll be easier once you aren't so mako-contaminated."

He really wanted to know about this whole Spike saving the world thing, but his body decided that the man had the right idea and his eyes closed despite him not wanting to.

He would find out more. But a nap wouldn't hurt. Just a little one.

Zack slept, even as the call came back from Reeve, and Michaels took a picture, confirming his identification.

Things were starting to change, and Zack was once again at the heart of them.

TBC

**Is it sad that I'm enthused by reviews. So you guys get the next chapter faster than normal. I'm glad people are interested in the story, and I hope to hear more back from you. I appreciate the fact you guys took the time to let me know you appreciate my stuff.**


	3. Chapter 3

Cloud hadn't known what to expect when he had gotten Reeve's message. Just that it was urgent for him to get back to Edge right away.

He had half expected something to have happened to Tifa and the kids, given that none of them had called him, and Cloud had not wasted any time pushing his bike as fast as it could towards what he considered home.

The look on Reeve's face when the man had met him didn't help Cloud's worries, either. When he had asked what was going on, the older man had just shook his head and led Cloud back to one of the rooms used for those who were sick, but needed guarding.

Seeing dark hair on the pillow, Cloud paused, knowing immediately that it wasn't Tifa's hair. Her hair didn't spike like that. In fact, the only hair he did know that did….

"Clone?"

His voice was tight and low, and he was torn between feeling furious and feeling tired. He didn't want to deal with Shin-Ra's mistakes anymore. Especially if this was who he thought it was.

They had no right to ruin his memories like that.

"Real thing."

That had quickly torn Cloud out of his half frozen state as he twisted his head to look at Reeve. "What?" Strained tones, and he studied the other with narrowed eyes.

"According to what we have, that's the real thing. The lab reports my team pulled said that he was collected just outside of Midgar after being reported dead. Not sure what Hojo did, but scars and various marks match up to old medical files. Whatever happened, that's the real deal." Brown eyes were sympathetic as Reeve looked at Cloud. "That really is Zack Fair, SOLDIER 1st Class."

The room had a really, really hard floor, Cloud decided, hitting it hard as he sat. Curling forward, he rested his head on his knees. "This isn't funny,"

"I know. "

Reeve rested his hand on Cloud's shoulder, squeezing lightly. They had gotten to be pretty good friends over the last two years, and Reeve came down on occasion to help Cloud work on his bike, making it even better than before. Sometimes, Cloud would play bodyguard for the other man. All in all, they had spent a lot of time with each other, and it was nice to have someone to talk to when he needed to.

And now Reeve dropped this on him.

"You going to be okay?"

"I…don't know." He lifted his head, and looked at the man on the bed, as best he could from this angle. "He was dead. I know he was. I…tell me I didn't leave him up there to die. Please?"

The hand tightened again. "I don't know, Cloud. Who knows what Hojo has done to him? We're still finding notes from projects halfway across the planet in various labs. The man left things everywhere. As you know."

Which Cloud did. Otherwise, he'd probably have all his files by now. But while there was a large chunk of them in Nibelheim, more had been found in other labs. Seemed Hojo had a habit of scattering his paperwork. Bastard. Cloud almost wished they would find Hojo alive, just so he could kill him again.

"They found him just a few miles out of Gongaga. New lab none of us had known about till about six months ago, hidden under the reactor. Dr. Solita's team found him. One of her men, Michaels, was an old SOLDIER. He had worked with Zack in Wutai. He did the initial identification."

There was a long pause, and Cloud looked up at Reeve, not sure if he liked that.

"Zack asked for you."

And Cloud felt the pit of his stomach fall again. "What…did he say? Do you know?"

The corner of Reeve's mouth quirked. "He asked for Spike."

"Sounds like Zack…."

Pushing himself to his feet, Cloud took a deep breath, and looked over at the man on the bed. "He's thin."

"Yes. From their best guesses, he was in a mako tank for a while. Thankfully, mako tends to slow down the need for food and such to non-existent, as long as one stays in it. Still, it's hard on the reserves."

Cloud nodded, knowing far too well what Reeve was talking about. "How is he, otherwise?"

"Vitals are good, though he started to run a fever about an hour or so after being pulled out of the mako. Doctors think that it's just him adjusting to the lack of mako."

"If he's been in it since he…died, that's about four years worth, with a year in the middle of no mako immersion." A pause. "Maybe five. It's hard to remember." He looked at Reeve again. "Anything else."

"Minor irregularities in his vitals, but nothing that can't be explained by the fact he's been in mako for a very, very long time. He hasn't been awake yet since he went to sleep, but we only found him a day ago."

He gave Cloud a punch in his shoulder, not really holding back, but Cloud barely noticed. "You know, if you picked up your phone when people called you, I could have told you when he first got here."

"Hey! I came back as soon as I got the message. I thought something had happened…. Does Tifa know about him?"

Looking a bit startled by the sudden change of subject, Reeve shook his head. "No. He asked for you, and given I'm not sure how she felt about him and his involvement in Nibelheim…."

"He saved people in Nibelheim," Cloud cut in, voice sharp. Then both men froze as the man on the bed shifted, a sound escaping him. After a moment, Zack settled again, never waking up fully.

Cloud studied his friend, noting the red of his cheeks. "Zack saved as many people as he could in Nibelheim, and he helped keep Sephiroth from killing more. But you did the right thing. Tifa doesn't need to know this yet. I know she was angry at everyone connected to Shin-Ra for the longest time. Even if she isn't mad at him anymore, I don't…. She was really mad at them. Zack told me what she said."

Or Cloud had remembered it in whatever strange way that let him remember other things that only Zack had lived in Nibelheim.

"Is it okay if I…?"

Reeve was nodding. "I'll make sure they bring in a comfortable chair. I had one waiting." He gave Cloud a slight smile. "This was what I was expecting, once we convinced you that it really was Zack. I take it you plan on staying here at least until he wakes up?"

Cloud nodded, looking at Zack. "Yeah. If nothing else…well, I should be. If it really isn't him anymore, I'll be here to deal with it. And if it is…."

His throat closed. If it was Zack, Cloud had his friend back.

How as he ever going to tell him about Aeris?

~/~

He hurt. All over. Hadn't felt like this since…. Hells, since the last time he had gotten out of the mako tank.

Zack pondered that for a moment. He was out. That was something that was undeniable. And it was a nice change. And he really did ache.

It had been like this before. Too long pickling in mako, not being able to really move. Then fleeing, dragging Cloud along with him. That had hurt.

Not this time. No Cloud this time.

Better fix that.

Forcing his eyes open, Zack blinked at the blurry ceiling. It only took a few minutes for it to come into focus, and he ignored the burn. Stupid mako, but it lets hear it for SOLDIER enhancements. If it wasn't for them, he'd be just as bad as Cloud had been the first time around. He was lucky that he hadn't been, or he and Cloud would still be in the labs.

Cloud.

Hearing breathing, Zack looked that way. Maybe if he was lucky, they would let him call Cloud. Or maybe they would know where he was. He was -sure- he hadn't imagined what they had said about his friend. Saving the world had to have gotten Cloud -some- sort of attention. So maybe he would get lucky.

He hoped Cloud remembered him.

Then, seeing the hair, he paused. Chocobo?

Then his common sense kicked in, and he blinked. Once, then again.

Cloud?

The man was slumped down in the chair, not really asleep, but he definitely didn't seem to be awake, just staring blankly into space.

Zack felt something tighten in his chest. He was sure that Cloud had been awake last time he had saw him. Hadn't he?

Reaching out with a shaking hand, willing it as stable as he could make it, Zack more dropped it than anything onto the blond hair. He didn't like feeling this drained. "Spi-ike?" And, look, his throat hurt, too.

Blue eyes instantly focused on him, looking blankly at him, as if Cloud didn't understand what was going on, then Zack shifted his hand, petting the hair a bit. "Come on, Spiky, let's not scare Zack."

"You're awake…."

The voice was soft and different. Deeper than he had remembered. Lots of things were different. He didn't remember Cloud looking so pale, and he could swear his hair was lighter. "Spike?"

There was a blur, and he found himself wrapped tight in a hug, Cloud's face pressed against his hair.

"You're -awake-!" His friend's voice hitched. "You're -alive- and you're awake!"

Cloud wasn't speaking any louder, but there was an intensity there that made Zack happy for that. Otherwise, he'd probably be deaf, and his head hurt enough as it was. Ignoring that, though, he curled his arms around the other and hugged for all he was worth.

"Hear you been saving the world. Knew you were going to do good."

Another hitch in Cloud's breathing. "You should have been there. I shouldn't have left you like I did…."

"Spike, you were barely holding onto the Buster. No way could you have dragged my sorry ass along as well. " He tightened the hug as he started to get more of his strength back . "You did good. I'm proud of you. Though I expect to hear all about it."

Reluctantly, he slowly loosened his grip, starting to get kind of dizzy, and just petted at Cloud's arm. "You got new clothes. With a pointy thing." He poked at the wolf's head that he could just barely see.

"Got a bike, too," Cloud said in a rough voice. "You can't have her."

Zack chuckled, even as Cloud slowly let go and settled back, eyes bright as they watched him. "Then I'll just have to pout at you till you get me one." Letting his hand rest on Cloud's arm, he gave the man a tired smile. "I bet you have a hell of a story to tell. Saving the world?"

Cloud's expression turned sheepish. "Kinda. Sephiroth came back." A pause. "Twice." He obviously saw Zack's grimace. "But I'll tell you later. You need to rest."

His hand came up, cool against Zack's face. "Still have a fever, though it's coming down. You're getting over the mako. That's good."

"Yeah. I'll be my lovable self soon enough." He looked at Cloud. "Where are we, anyway?"

"Edge. It's what replaced Midgar after it got destroyed."

Zack choked. "W…what?" he rasped, even as Cloud moved to help shift him onto his side. "Can I get water or something?"

Cloud bit his lip. "I'll have to ask. And it's part of the long story."

Nodding, Zack coughed a few more times. "Go ask."

He realized what was missing as Cloud stood up and headed for the door.

"Spike." A pause. "Where's Aeris?"

The look of…hell, he had only seen that look on Cloud's face once, when he had failed out of the SOLDIER exams. That kind of loss didn't happen often. "I…it's part of the story."

Then he was gone. Only Zack's enhancements let him catch Cloud's words.

"I don't want you to hate me yet."

Settling back as best he could, eyes focused on the door, Zack didn't like this. Why had Cloud avoided the question like that, and where -was- Aeris? Had she forgotten about him? Still, as much as he talked about her to Cloud, he would have thought maybe his friend could have convinced her to come see him.

And why would Cloud think Zack would hate him?

Zack had missed a lot, it seemed.

He wondered if he would ever find out everything that had happened while he had been gone.

Didn't matter. He was here now, and if Cloud thought Zack was going to leave, then his dear blond chocobo of a friend had a reminder coming that Zack didn't abandon his friends.

Even if he had to out stubborn them to do it.

TBC

**Sorry about the delay on getting this out. I apologize greatly. Hopefully, you guys will find it in your hearts to forgive me. I plan on posting for the next few days. *grins* Though reviews might get two chapters in a day. **

**Three chapters down, seven left to post.**


	4. Chapter 4

One of the more irritating things about having a phone, really, was that people -called- you on them.

Eyeing the device, Vincent did feel some relief that it wasn't Yuffie. Yet again. Once she had discovered his number, she had taken to calling him constantly, never letting more than a few days go between calls. He wondered if she harassed the others as much, or if she did it just to try fluster him.

This time, the ID said it was Reeve, and Vincent, with a sigh, answered the call. "Hello?"

"I was wondering if you were about to pull a Cloud," came Reeve's voice, tired, but full of humor. "He's well known for ignoring his calls, and if Yuffie is to be believed, you do the same quite often."

"I have caller ID."

That earned a chuckle from Reeve, and Vincent listened quietly for a moment, knowing the other man would come to the reason for the call eventually. The WRO didn't leave him enough time to just randomly call people and sit on the line for no reason.

"We need you to come to Edge."

"What's wrong?"

"Of course you'd want a reason." A half laugh. "Honestly, I'm not sure why you in particularly are being requested, but you are. It's from one of Cloud's friends, who we found in a lab recently. He seems very determined that you come and visit."

A murmur in the background, soft enough that Vincent couldn't catch it over the phone. Reeve replied, but without the original comment, 'for what?' was not that much of a useful line. A few more exchanges, while Vincent again waited patiently, and then Reeve's voice returned to its former volume as he spoke into the phone again.

"He says it has something to do with your younger sisters..." Ah, a confused tone. For a very, very good reason. Not even Vincent's Turk file had any notes over the existence of siblings. They noted his father, his mother, and that was it. Actually, if he recalled correctly, Vincent was sure his records said he was an only child. For a very good reason, and he frowned. Who was this person that was a friend of Cloud's, and -how- did he know things like that?

"Reeve?"

"I don't think he's going to explain, Vincent. Not without meeting you face to face, so you might as well come and find out what this is about." And Vincent was sure that Reeve or Cait would be right there when he got to Edge. For all that he was a professional, Reeve did love to hear about new things, or else Cait wouldn't be the clever little spy that he was.

"Where are you?"

Noting the name of the hospital and room, Vincent said goodbye, and hung up.

A friend of Cloud's who had obtained information that not even the highly, highly suspicious Turks had been able to gain. A friend of Cloud's who had been pulled out of a lab.

Vincent wanted to meet this friend, and see if he was a danger or not. Too much had happened for him to trust so easily, and he was sure that Cloud would appreciate knowing if this friend of his was safe or not. Though it was most likely that Cloud and Reeve had already checked him out quite thoroughly. Both were almost as suspicious as he was, and with a great many resources.

He should have asked the man's name. Ah, well. He'd find out soon enough, and he could call sources as easily from Edge as he could Kalm.

~/~

It wasn't hard to find the hospital. Edge only had two, which was a surprise, since it hosted most of the survivors of Midgar's population.

But, most of the real hospitals, with the trained doctors, had been upPlate. He had never pondered just how many people from up there survived, and how many of them fell later to Geostigma. Without doctors, well, clinics would be just as good, especially when most of what they dealt with could be cured with materia or potions.

In any case, Vincent soon found himself ghosting down pale halls. A nurse had been kind enough to point him in the direction of the room he was looking for, and hadn't looked the least bit afraid of Vincent. Though if they were bringing survivors of Hojo's labs here, he doubted he was the most frightening thing she had ever seen. At least, not the most outwardly frightening thing at the moment. Chaos chuckled faintly in his head, and he just ignored the demon. They had gotten quirky over the years.

Spotting the door, he moved to stand there, listening, and hoping to get a few moments to observe who was there.

That didn't happen.

Almost as soon as he was there, he was being looked at by Cloud and a dark haired stranger who was sitting up in a bed. From the looks of it, Vincent had come around meal time, and the man's...dessert cube?, was still jiggling faintly. Oh, Vincent remembered those things. Not anything close to real food, and a standard all over.

The man had glowing eyes, which was a good guess on why he had looked up as soon as Cloud had. Another SOLDIER. Which made him worry more for what the man knew of his background. SOLDIERs had often been too close to Hojo to keep effective secrets.

Sitting near them was Tifa, who had a bag of books next to her. It looked as if she had dropped by to visit and lingered, though he was sure he knew why. Probably the same reason that Reeve was sitting in the corner, tinkering on one of his Caits, the back of the robot wide open, black fur pushed aside. Didn't either of them have places to be?

Ignoring them for a moment, he looked at the man on the bed, studying him again. Thin. It was easy to pick out bone under pale skin. Skin was dry, cracked, bandages wrapped around joints and such. Vincent had seen it before in projects abandoned in mass amounts of mako. Too long meant that when a subject left it, the body had to adjust to not being coated in fluid. Dry skin and hair, which broke easily. Easy to damage, and cracked skin was bleeding skin. Damage enough, and the subjects were already weakening from blood loss.

A person could live in mako unattended far longer than should be possible. Mako seemed to support the systems, nutrition being leached out of it, damage done to the body by its own need for food, sleep, and fluid slowly repaired by the green liquid. One couldn't live forever in it, but he knew there were tests that one creature, some sort of bird, left in a mako tube had still be alive almost a decade later.

It was a thought that had echoed in his nightmares. Even before he had ended up in a tube himself.

Vincent also made a note to -never- share that test with Cloud. No need to give him the same nightmares.

Around them, the silence stretched on and on, finally broken as he moved closer.

"Who are you?"

Pushing away the plate, the man waved at the chair that was free. "Pull up a seat. I have a few things to talk to you about."

About to refuse, Vincent stopped, and then sat in the chair. He trusted Cloud and the others. They would not lead him into a trap, though he still wanted to know how this man knew his family.

"Again, who are you?"

The man grinned. "Name is Zack Fair."

Well, that explained a great deal, such as why Cloud hovered like he did. Vincent knew of Cloud's own bout of lab time. He knew a few details even, though he never pried. Zack was a name he knew well, remembering when Cloud had explained his memory issues, explained that while he had been in Nibelheim, it wasn't as a SOLDIER. The SOLDIER, Zack, had later died while protecting Cloud, trying to draw away those who hunted him, and fell trying to deal with them. All strong reasons for Cloud's devotion to the man.

Still, that did not explain how Zack knew his family.

"What do you know about my sisters?"

Two young girls, twins, though not identical. His half sisters, in reality, who delighted in talking to their older brother. Twelve years old when they had been born, he had been rather dismissive of them. Once he had started to work for Shin-Ra, he rarely left Midgar except on missions, and his mother, who was very Wutian, had stopped talking to him.

"I know they grew up in Wutai. Did pretty well there." Zack shifted, snagged a glass of water in a hand that trembled just a bit, and sipped at it. "One of them, Amara, she ended up joining Lord Godo's nin. Did pretty well, from what I know. She ended up being one of his primary bodyguards. Had to beat out a lot of people for it."

Vincent nodded, and let go enough to smile faintly. "She was always the more active of them." It was good she had become a ninja. It had been her dream since she was tiny, and he wondered if he would have met her during that full fledged war that happened sometime after he had gone to sleep.

"Yeah. As for Jerusha," Zack gave a sheepish smile. "Well, she decided she liked the look of a traveling merchant. Courted him until he finally agreed to the idea of marrying her."

He paused, violet eyes bright as he looked at Vincent. An odd color, but the SOLDIER process seemed to bring out almost unnatural colors in people. Sephiroth's green, Cloud's vivid blue, now this glowing purple. Though some people had odd colors. His mother's had been greenish-gold, while Vincent had gotten his father's red eyes. His sisters had more green than gold, but still rather unusual among the greys and blues of the Wutai people.

When Zack started again, his words were in Wutanese. "They ended up moving back to Gongaga, where they had a son who was awesome and left home at fourteen to go join Shin-Ra and be a SOLDIER."

There was an expectant look on his face, and Vincent wasn't sure what he was implying. Then he looked closer at the boy.

He could see the shape of his sister's eyes, angled and large when the man's face was still, that disguising grin gone for the moment.

"Hiya, Uncle Vincent. Mom is going to be mad you didn't call her."

Vincent leaned back in his chair, a bit in shock.

~/~

Zack couldn't help but chuckle weakly at the expression on the man's face. Though he was studying him. It was odd, seeing the longer hair, the red clothing, more leather than anyone but Seph ever wore. There was a wildness around him, a feralness, that never showed up in his mom's pictures of her older brother. If it wasn't for the eyes, Zack wasn't sure if he would have recognized the man. Definitely hadn't when he had run across him sleeping.

Next time, make sure to wake up sleeping people he found in coffins. Learned that lesson real fast.

Although part of his attention was distracted by the rather amusing noise that Spike was making as he looked back and forth between them, obviously looking for the resemblance. It was hard to see, most of the time. Thankfully, Zack had taken after his Gongaga father more than his Wutian mother, or else there would have been an issue when he had shown up to join SOLDIER. Right now, though, with as much weight as he had lost, he knew it was a hell of a lot easier to tell. Those damn cheek bones and the shape of his eyes were more prominent than not when he was so thin. He had seen it himself while in the bathroom.

Though Zack had totally forgotten that Spike had picked up Wutanese from him while they were in the labs. It was something to focus on, between tests.

Finally, after a few long long moments, Cloud had sat back with a faintly surprised sound, which drew a chuckle from Reeve. Now that one, Zack wasn't so sure what he had gotten from the last bit of that conversation, if anything. Reeve he knew in a vague 'we work for the same people' sort of way. But, well, a lot of people worked for Shin-Ra.

Though he was really starting to like the guy.

Tifa was just giving him a look. "What was that last bit?"

A chuckle. "Well, I was introducing him to the fact he has a nephew who was made of pure awesome."

That just got a snort, and the woman rolled her eyes. "In any case, as I was saying before all of this, Marlene and Denzel thought you might like things to read. To pass the time and all. For -some- reason, they adore you."

He just grinned at her, knowing she was teasing in her own way.

"How are they?"

Both of them looked to Vincent, who was watching Zack. "My sisters, how are they?"

Zack paused, and then shifted. "Aunt Mara died during the war. She had a little girl, but there was an assassination attempt by a noble who wasn't thrilled with how Godo was dealing with the war, and she was his lead bodyguard..." He trailed off. "Mom is still alive. I called her a few days ago. She's a bit upset that I vanished like that. Seems like Shin-Ra was doing a bit of mail censoring, because they never got any of my letters." Zack let out a slow sigh over that. He should have called, at least once.

"Need to go visit them. You need to go as well, cause once Mom finds out that you are alive and not visiting, she is going to hunt you down. I, being the good son that I am, will shamelessly rat you out."

"Because you -hope- it will distract her some from you," was Cloud's low comment, just shaking his head. "I would never have expected the two of you to be related, of all people."

"Well, we should probably go meet my uncle and cousin." A pause. "I wonder if she's still mad I joined Shin-Ra?"

Now Cloud was looking at him, eyes curious. "Why did you join up with them? I mean, your family is from Wutai, right?"

"So is Tseng's. In any case, I joined to see if I couldn't find my uncle, who both Mom and Aunt Mara knew was a Turk, and then I met Seph. And he needed a friend too much for me to leave."

The others fell silent at Seph's name, and Zack had a pang of why, Seph?, still not fully understanding why his friend had done what he had done.

"Tell me about them? Just stories."

Zack looked into Vincent's eyes. The man seemed to honestly want to hear the stories. "You want stories, you should ask Dad. He's full of them. But...I can tell you some. I mean, there is a lot I don't know, or remember, but I do remember some."

Vincent's eyes lightened, some of the brooding in them vanishing, and Zack cheered mentally. Then, after another sip of water, and a few minutes to gather his thoughts, he began to talk about his mom and his Aunt Mara.

TBC

**Wow, so many reviews. And a lot more people putting it on favorites and story alerts. Glad you guys are enjoying it, and now that we've made Vincent go adfkldsfj;as in his head, we can all snicker in the idea of him and Zack being related. **

**Keep up with the reviews. I'll post another chapter tomorrow.**


	5. Chapter 5

Strangely enough, Rufus usually enjoyed this portion of the day. The part where he got to look at the reports Tseng brought him, given to him by Reeve's assistants, so he could see the details as the WRO slowly took apart everything that Hojo had put together.

Not Rufus's father. Hojo.

The more he dug, the more Rufus realized that much of what he thought had been his father's foolish ideas had made a sick, horrible sense when looked through a scientific viewpoint. Oh, his father had ordered many horrible things, which still haunted the Shinra name to this day, but it was clear to see Hojo's guiding hand behind it for the last two decades or so. Even a bit further. Gast had been in charge of the science department, but Hojo had already been laying the grounds for when he would take over.

Not that Rufus wasn't sure he'd have been a great deal worse. The chaos and destruction that would have happened if not for his near death would have surpassed his father in amazing amounts, and all of it would have been easy to lay at his feet. He did not let others control him as his father hand, and he was young enough to believe in his own immortality.

Amazing what having a WEAPON nearly kill you would do to a person's perception of reality.

So now he helped pay for that luck that kept him alive, through everything that had happened, in many ways. Supporting the WRO was the main one, but he did have many other projects he donated to. Just because his company had been lost didn't mean all his sources of income were gone, not to mention that he -had- owned the largest company in the world. That spoke of a substantial account.

But, at the moment, Rufus's attention was not on the reports, each of them over yet another lab that had been found and destroyed. At this rate, it was going to be years, maybe decades, before all of them were found, but it wasn't the lab that had Rufus distracted.

It was what had been found in said lab.

Rufus knew who Fair was. One of the few people who didn't let the Shinra name keep him from that semi-torment the man called friendship. Rather like Reno, in a way.

Speaking of Reno...

The shrill sound of a ringtone broke the air, and both Rufus and Tseng turned to look at the redhead, who looked as startled as them. Blinking, he looked at the display. "What the hell? Why is Strife calling me?"

Good question, though Rufus almost smirked at the tone of Reno's voice.

"Perhaps if you answer it..." The words trailed off, and Tseng lifted a brow as he looked at Reno.

The man rolled his eyes, but did answer, cutting off the ring in mid shrill. "Yo?" A pause, and then Reno pulled it away from his ear and looked at it. Then he looked to Rufus.

"For you, boss."

Now wary, unsure on why Cloud Strife, of all people, would bother calling a man he was rather adamantly apathetic for, Rufus took the PHS and eyed it for a moment before finally just putting it against his ear.

"Hello?"

"Heya, blondie. So, you are alive. I was beginning to wonder."

Rufus almost dropped the PHS. "Zack?"

"Who else? I mean, are there people mimicking my voice running around? I was declared dead, you know. Mimicking my voice would be rather...well...dumb."

Oh, yes. Definitely Fair. Who was in the middle of a 'wired and won't shut up' bout. "Why are you calling me?"

"Ah. Well, I stole Spike's PHS, but not reaaaaaally had a chance to use it until now. Which I am. To call you, so you can send your Turks to come get me out of here. I mean, a hospital. That's kinda stupid, right? I just got out of a lab. So, come be the big bad hero and save me?"

Zack's tone was cheerful, and stubbornly irreverent as Rufus had ever heard it, but there was something under it. The SOLDIER could be serious. Rufus had heard it. More than once or twice, and he could hear it now, hidden beneath the joking tone. The hospital must have really been bothering him if he was calling Rufus to come get him out.

That said that Zack had already tried to get Strife to let him go, only to be denied. Or perhaps he hadn't even asked. Zack was rather soft hearted when it came to Cloud. He had even died for the man. Cloud would be...distressed to realize that he was causing his friend stress.

Once, Rufus would have seen that as a weakness, something to be manipulated. Not any more. Still...

"If you haven't broken out on your own, that probably means that you still need to be in the hospital." Which was very true. Zack was awake, at least somewhat mobile, and had been left alone long enough to call Rufus. In most circumstances, you couldn't keep any SOLDIER with those three qualities locked up for very long.

"I...please." The tone was soft through the phone. "It reeks here, smells like the labs, and I can't sleep. But I can't tell the others. Cloud and Vincent both know what it was like in labs, and I don't want to upset them."

Rufus was quiet. Zack was definitely admitting weakness there.

"Tseng, arrange to...assist in Mr. Fair's checkout from the hospital."

He pretended he didn't see that slight smile on his Turk's face.

On the PHS, Zack chuckled. "Thanks, Rufus. I'll see you soon, I take it?"

"Definitely."

/~/

A bit more focused on his paperwork this time, Rufus finally noticed the person who was leaning in the door frame. Looking up, he paused, just studying him.

When the first reports of Zack's death had come, he hadn't believed it. Like Sephiroth, he had seemed too big to be killed, at least to one vice-president in training. Zack was one of the few people in his life who hadn't cared that Rufus was training to take over the President job someday, who would be the one who was in charge of Zack's job. That startled Rufus, who was willing to admit he might have been somewhat spoiled before.

It had taken a while for him to forgive Tseng for not -telling- him that Zack's death had been exaggerated, that the SOLDIER was actually in a lab somewhere. Because that was when he had first started his idea that fear was the perfect way to rule.

Being nice did nothing but get one killed, after all.

Then had come the second report of Zack's death, but by then, Rufus was well on his way to blinding himself to the truth. Something he had worked hard at fixing. Blind men were easily tricked.

"You've grown up." Zack gave him a lazy grin, and Rufus just looked at him.

"I supposed one of us had to. Given that you show little sign of it, I suppose that I shall have to be the one to do so."

Chuckling, Zack moved to go sit on the couch, and Rufus studied the man as he moved. It was obvious he had been leaning against the door frame because he had to. Zack was...thin. Far too thin. Here and there, like in the wrists, the bones stood out in start contrast, and he could see the fine tremors that ran up Zack's arms. He really shouldn't be out of the hospital, though the reports that Tseng had acquired said he was recovering rapidly. Too fast. Nobody knew what that sort of recovery time meant, as least in the doctor reports.

"It's good to see you again." Zack gave him a bright smile, and Rufus gave a small one back. It was good to see Zack as well. Rufus had never known what it was like to talk to someone who saw him for him, and not for the heir to the Shinra fortune. Even now, it was rare. It was something he missed, though he would never admit it out loud. Rufus had learned the consequences of lying to himself. Very well.

"So, what brings you to darken my doorway?" He watched the man, aware of Reno returning to his spot to the side of the door, and of Tseng slipping out once the redhead was in place. The older man was still recovering somewhat, and so primary bodyguard duty was on Reno and Rude.

"Can't a guy come to visit?" Zack rolled a shoulder, and it was so odd to see him in anything besides a SOLDIER uniform. "Besides, I'm starting to get details from Spike over what has happened over the last few years, and I decided to come harass you to get some of the ones he doesn't know."

Good to see that he wasn't stupid. For all that Zack gave off the air of "dumb little puppy", SOLDIER First Classes were anything but stupid. Stubborn, willing to pretend they didn't see certain things, outright denying others, yes. But they weren't stupid.

"And what will Cloud think when he discovers your little vanishing act?"

That got a chuckle. "I left his phone on the end table. Along with a note saying I was being stolen by tall, pale, and lanky. That'll let him know that I didn't fade off into the lifestream or something." A sigh, and Zack shifted. "Hopefully, he won't take it too badly."

"Hey..." Reno scowled at Zack for the description.

"What? You are tall, pale, and lanky. Should I have put in that you dye your hair as well?"

And that set off a round of friendly-ish bickering between the two, and Rufus fought the urge to just hide his face in his hands and laugh. It was very tempting, but he did have a reputation to uphold, and having a set of giggles was probably not good for it.

The sudden shrill of Reno's ringtone made them all blink, though Zack's expression quickly shifted to understanding. Rufus was pretty sure the man had a good idea of who was on the other end of that call.

Then again, so did Rufus.

Muttering curses, Reno pulled out the PHS and looked at it. "Strife again." He answered, and Rufus could hear Cloud's voice even before Reno could say hello.

After a moment, the redhead snorted. "Can't anyone call me today and actually talk to me?" He tossed the PHS to Zack, who fumbled a bit as he caught it.

That told Rufus that Zack was in worse shape than he thought, and he saw Reno note it as well.

Holding it away from his ear, Zack just waited patiently for the sound of Cloud's ranting to stop. Which was pretty impressive. Rufus wasn't sure if he had ever heard the man go on like that before. Cloud was the very definition of a silent, stoic hero at times. Reno looked almost impressed, and Zack was just patiently waiting.

"I've seen him go on before. This is nothing." Zack was grinning, and then turned his attention to talking to Cloud.

"Yes, I am talking to someone besides Reno, who is apparently getting frustrating that all of us call him, but none of us want to talk to him." He dropped his tone as if passing on a secret. "He's rather unhappy over it, I think. Have you guys been ignoring him?"

A growl from Reno.

Grinning shamelessly, Zack chuckled. "I'm with Rufus, Spike." A pause, and the PHS was pulled away again. "Okay, quieter, Spike. That hurt."

It probably had. Even with his regular hearing, Rufus had heard Cloud yelp from where he was sitting.

"Yeah, I did say Rufus. Yes, Spike, as in Shinra. Why? Well, he did rescue me. It's kinda my job now to chat with him. Obligations, you know?"

Oh, yes, that would go over so well with Strife. Rufus felt the urge to roll his eyes, and Reno was indulging in that.

"I'm kidding, Cloud. But, yeah. I called him to help me out." A pause, and Zack's expression...softened. "I meant what I said. It really did bother me." Another pause, one broken by Zack's chuckling. "No, Rufus doesn't bother me." Laughing eyes on Rufus, who just frowned slightly at him.

The pair talked on the PHS for a bit, then Zack closed it, and tossed it back to Reno.

"So, Spike says you guys have to bring me back in one piece." Then he shifted, and gave Rufus a -look.-

"I've been hearing some interesting stories," he said after a long moment of quiet. "Lots of interesting stories. Care to explain why you backslid into being the world's biggest ass, Rufus?"

This, Rufus had been waiting for, and in a way, it made him smile.

It was good to have Zack back. The man never let anyone get away with anything. If there had been more people around like him, Rufus might not have lost his company.

Not to mention it would frustrate Cloud to know that the pair of them were friends.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been a long day, and she had spent a lot of time working on trying to get things resettled after the latest bout of traveling. While she and Nick didn't leave the town often anymore, they still had to do some traveling back and forth to keep things going, business-wise. Everything had been unloaded and put away, but it still took a bit to get things organized in the house itself when they got back home.

Absently, she heard the sound of chocobos, but paid no real mind to it. Nick was out putting their birds in the stable, and she knew he'd spend a bit of time fussing over them. They were no spring hens, just like her and her husband. Actually, if it wasn't for the fact that not traveling would drive both of them insane, she and her husband should probably be happily set. Between what they had earned over the years as traders and what Zack...

She took a deep breath. In any case, her attention was caught after a bit when the sounds of people gathering also caught her attention. Who would be outside of her house at this time of day? Most times, she saw everyone at the shop, not here.

Tucking the last of the clothing to be washed into the washer, she started it, and then headed outside.

Well, that explained why there were people outside of her house. The first thing she saw was gold feathers, and for a moment, her mind caught on that. Golds were...rare. She'd never seen three of them together. Actually, she only had seen one gold before, being ridden by a man during a race in the Gold Saucer. Nor was she the only one who had their attention caught by the idea of such rare birds in a group like that.

Then she registered who was on them.

"Zack...?"

A thin whisper, and she looked at the man, eyes wide. It -was- her son, sitting there thin and pale, hair just as wild as ever, if longer than she had ever seen him wear it. There was stiffness in his actions as he carefully slid off, and then he smiled at her.

"Hi, Mom. I'm home."

With something that might have resembled a shriek, Jerusha launched herself forward and clung to her son, eyes burning. Too, too thin, she could feel his ribs as she wrapped herself around him, and she didn't care at the moment. All that mattered was that he hugged her back, his heartbeat solid and there under her cheek as she hugged him.

"Rusha?" Nick's voice made it out before him as he looped around the side of the house, and there was a cut off curse from that side. Then, after a long moment of quiet, she heard him rasp out Zack's name. A shift of the man she was hugging, and Zack's voice rumbled under her ear. When had his voice gotten so deep?

"Dad. It's me."

Then Nick was hugging Zack as well, along with Jerusha, his arms around both of them, and Jerusha just let herself cling for a long, long moment, Zack's voice soft as he tried to soothe them. It wasn't working, but she didn't care. Let him say anything he wanted. It was her baby, and he had come home.

Finally, something he said penetrated, and she shifted a bit to look at him. "What?"

He grinned down at her, and she was vaguely sure that he might be taller than his father. "I said, I found what I joined Shin-Ra to find."

Well, that just didn't make any sense, and she frowned faintly at him. Why had he joined Shin-Ra to find anything?

Her look got a slightly sheepish smile back. "Sorry. Forgot I never mentioned just -why- I joined. I found him, Mom."

"Hello, Rusha."

The voice, older than she remembered, soft, and she glanced at the source. Then she blinked, trying to process.

Black leather and a tattered red cloak. Long dark hair. If not for the eyes, as red as the cloak and calm, she would never have recognized him. The blond sitting on the other bird, oh, -him- she knew. And would be having words with later on about ripping out a poor woman's heart with lies. That would be later. After she decided if she wanted to laugh, cry, or scream her throat raw at this random appearance of relatives she thought dead. What next? Mara popping up and saying she'd never died?

Not that that was likely. She had felt her twin die.

One last hug of her son, and she settled upright. "Well, we might as well take this inside."

"I'll take the birds into the stables, if that's all right." That was the blond...Cloud, if she recalled his name correctly.

"That would be fine," Nick said, not really taking his hand off Zack's shoulder, and Rusha knew it was because he was afraid that if he did, Zack would either fall over, or he would vanish, a figment of imagination because they had been told their son was -dead-, and this thin, pale man looked as if he had come back from being that way. Sun would do him good. Later.

Jerusha eyed him a moment, then nodded. "Join us when you are done." Had not intention of letting him hide when she wanted to talk to him.

Vincent looked a bit betrayed by the blond taking the birds and walking off with them, but he didn't fight when Rusha snagged his arm and tugged him along as they got Zack inside as well. It didn't take long to get the pair into the house, and she glared Vincent into sitting down, something which definitely seemed to make him uncomfortable. Good. She hadn't seen hide nor hair from him in over thirty years. He -deserved- to feel uncomfortable.

Zack got a bit more consideration, and she went to grab everyone juice before returning to the room, settling beside her son. He was -alive-, and she was too happy at that to stay mad for long. Oh, he had -called-, but after what she had been told, the hope that it was real, not some twisted dream of false hope, was just that, hope. It never really got past the cold acceptance of her son being dead. When Cloud had come, carrying the tale of how her son had died saving his life, Rusha had known it was true. It had just been too long with no news from him.

Finally, Cloud joined them, and she gave him a -look-. "You told us he was dead."

The boy flinched. Not much, and he hid it well, but she was a mother, and she knew a guilty flinch when she saw it. Opening her mouth to go on, Zack wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. "It's not his fault, Mom. I really was dead for a bit."

A shiver ran through her, cold creeping along her spine. "You aren't dead."

"I was. But not so long that Hojo," a bitter tone there," couldn't bring me back. Seems that Jenova cells don't die easily." His voice was tired, and she shifted, looking at her son. He looked...worn, exhausted.

He didn't want her to blame Cloud. For him, she'd let go of that anger at being lied to, given it wasn't an intentional lie, and just nodded faintly. Zack smiled at her, probably aware of what she was thinking. They had always been more alike than not, and he just got her better than he did his father at times, even if he did look like Nick.

"Though, you, I'm still mad at." She looked at Vincent. "I thought you were dead as well. You joined those Turks, and then you were gone. Nobody knew what had happened, and when the war really started to heat up, I stopped getting answered at all. You were gone, Mother died not long after the war started for real. Mara died towards the end. And then I heard that Zack was gone..."

She blinked past the tears. Zack wasn't dead. Nor was her brother. But she was allowed to be angry at him.

"I'm sorry, Rusha." His voice was quiet, and she looked at her brother. "I... It occurred to me, but I didn't know here you had gone. Neither you nor Mara. Not even an idea of where to start."

It was a feeble excuse, and it was clear he was aware of it.

Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly. She had her son, and her brother. Both of who she had never expected to see again. They were here now, though, and she could accept that and move on. Things were good again.

"Well, I assume you are staying here for a while. It's obvious that Zack needs more time to recover from whatever had happened to him," and she wasn't going to let him go when he looked as thin as he did. "So we'll have to do some rearranging of rooms, but we can fit you all." She smiled faintly. "It's been a while since we had this many people in this house. It'll be nice."

/~/

"You are just loving this too much."

With a faint smile, Cloud continued to groom his bird, the hen leaning into his hands as he worked on straightening her feathers. Not that they really needed it. This was the third time he had been out here, checking on the birds, grooming them, making sure they were all good. Not that he thought that Nick was anything short of adoring of the birds, but it just...

"I thought I would find you out here."

Starting slightly, wondering where the woman had learned to move so quietly, Cloud looked at Zack's mom. She was small, maybe the height Aeris had been, with wide greenish eyes that reflected gold at times. And she was fast and sneaky. Obviously where Zack had gotten it when he chose to be sneaky. Which wasn't often.

Right now, she was studying him, and he felt the urge to squirm away. Just being here made him feel guilty, because it was his fault that she thought Zack was dead. Never mind that he had through the same thing, and he thought it would be better for her to know than to never have an answer, but still. He had lied to her, and made her mourn for someone who wasn't dead. At least he wasn't the focus of her attention. And she seemed more irked at Vincent for not being there than she was irked at him for telling her her kid was dead.

"You've been avoiding me."

Cloud flinched a tiny bit, and was distracted when Glaus decided he needed groomed back and got a beakfull of his hair. After convincing her that, no, he didn't need said grooming, he looked back at the woman who was in the stable with him. "I..." He gave her a small, helpless look.

Moving, she reached up and brushed her fingers along gold feathers. "Zack worries about you, when you vanish like you have been. Vincent as well, though he doesn't say anything, just frowns. My brother has never been the most demonstrative of people. None of us were, really. That, Zack got from his father." She glanced at him. "Might I ask why you have been avoiding us except the times when you can't do anything about it?"

Glancing down and to the side, Cloud wasn't sure how to answer her, and then finally looked up at her. "I don't want to be in the way. Zack's your son, and Vincent is your brother." And he wasn't related to her in any way. Not that he had any family left. As far as Cloud was aware, the closest thing was Tifa, and that was only because -everyone- was related to everyone in Nibelheim, at least a little bit.

Jerusha pished at him, just giving him a -look-. "And my son thought enough of you to nearly die saving your life. Not to mention that Vincent told us about the fact that if you hadn't woken him up, he'd still be asleep in some lab somewhere. As far as I'm concerned, you are family."

That horrified Cloud slightly. He wasn't good for people, honestly. Look at how easily he got people killed. Even if Zack had come back later, he had still died, almost died, whatever, for Cloud. Aeris did die. Not for Cloud, but it was his fault she was involved.

"You are thinking stupid thoughts, Spike," was his warning before he got a thump upside the head. There was Zack, who was just giving Cloud a look. Then he smiled.

"Looks like you are stuck with us, Cloud. If Mom has decided she needs to adopt you, you might as well just get it through your fluffy skull that you are adopted." He draped his arm over Cloud's shoulder and gave a wry smile. "Looks like we're siblings. That'll make flirting with you so much stranger."

Not that he would stop. As far as Cloud knew, Zack flirted with everyone at some point or another. It was just part of Zack.

Family.

He didn't know if he trusted this, or if he wanted to, but if it made Zack happy, he'd be willing to try.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a nice day out, and Zack had dragged Cloud out to enjoy it.

Things had finally settled in the house, and as Zack had gotten more strength back, he had gotten more restless. Which lead to him and Cloud working outside together. At first, it had been with the birds, keeping them active and healthy. Then they slowly worked up to sparring with one another.

It was light touch sparring, of course. Zack wasn't up to anything too fast or too hard yet, but he and Cloud could do this, light, slow sparring, working their way up to full strength. Zack was recovering faster than anyone had expected, but he still tired easily.

At the moment, what Zack and Cloud were doing was more like a game of tag than anything. For all that Zack wasn't up to full speed, he was still damn quick, and Cloud had to do some twisting in order to avoid being poked with a hard finger. Zack just chuckled. "Getting slow, Spike."

"It's not my fault that..." He trailed off, and both men stopped their spar, heads turning to listen. Cloud knew he had heard something...

There was a cry, and something leapt from a nearby tree to land on Zack, who yelped, staggering and almost falling. Moving to help, Cloud paused when he realized it was a person. A person he -knew-.

"Yuffie?"

She didn't answer him, too busy growling and thumping Zack on the head as the man yelped and tried to toss her off. Not sure what was going on, or even what he was supposed to be doing here, Cloud just sort of stood there for a moment before moving to try to pry her off of Zack. About that point an time, though, Zack managed to get her into a headlock, panting a bit. "Brat, what was that about?"

Yuffie just huffed at him, glaring at him as she tried to get out of the headlock. "I'm gonna strangle you when you let go."

"I guess you are still mad at me, then?"

"And I don't think you will strangle him, Yuffie." Cloud turned, seeing Zack's mom on the porch, who was just looking at them, a brow quirked. "Zack, let your cousin go. She knows better than to jump on people like that, true, but holding her just keeps her close to you."

With a mutter, Zack contemplated it. "I will if she promises to not damage me anymore. She hits a lot harder than she used to. Baby cousin got stronger." A teasing tone, but he didn't let her go, just looked down at her.

With a muffled curse, Yuffie tried to struggle free, and Cloud saw her freeze when Jerusha continued from on the porch. "Yuffie, dear, did you know that Vincent was your uncle?" Calm tone, though there was a definite undertone of 'you did something wrong' that even Cloud could pick up. Nor was he the only one, given the way that both Yuffie and Zack both went still. Nice to see that some things were universal, and that tone was one of them.

Yuffie fidgeted, "Maybe?" She was looking anywhere besides the woman on the porch, and Cloud had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Sitting beside Jerusha was Vincent, who had the most horrified look on his face that Cloud had ever seen. His friend didn't seem to know what to do with this new news over his family. Though it did make sense, in a twisted way. Godo was a ninja himself, and who else would he prefer but fighters? And if there was anyone as bouncy as Zack, Cloud had to admit, it was Yuffie.

Finally, Zack did let go, ruffling up Yuffie's hair as he did, grinning faintly. Though he looked tired again. "Sorry, Spike. I think we're going to have to continue this later. I'm going to sit down for now."

Concerned, he watched Zack walk to the porch where Jerusha began to fuss over him a bit, making him sit down and pressing a glass of juice into his hands. Though the more he studied Zack, the more Cloud noticed that it wasn't that the man was hurting. Just tired. Which was understandable, and made him relax a little.

"What's wrong with him?" This was a low little murmur from Yuffie, who had moved to stand beside Cloud. Absently keeping track of her hands, just in case, though she hadn't really stolen materia from him in a while, Cloud watched Zack a few more moments, then looked to her.

"It's been just over a..." he paused a moment to figure the time, "a month since they found him. No idea of how long that lab had been abandoned, and how long he had just been surviving off of the mako. He's alive, but he's still recovering." Cloud looked at his friend again, who was chatting with his mom and uncle. "We're working on building up his endurance again, but it's been slow going. Though the doctor said the rate of recovery was amazing. Zack was building up muscle mass and weight in general pretty well when we left. Just got to get him fully recovered." He gave her a -look.- "Which means no jumping on his head until he's ready for it."

Yuffie just rolled her eyes at him, and watched the people on the porch as well. "You know, I think that Aunt Rusha is going to be kinda mad at me for a while. Since I never mentioned that Vinny was my uncle." A glance to Cloud. "Not that I was positive, you know. I always figured that he was dead, and I didn't have as many stories as Zack did over him. Mom never talked much about him, and the war was always going on, so it wasn't as much a priority. Though I knew when Zack went missing." A scowl from her as she glanced at Cloud. "I was looking for him when I ran into you guys."

Which would explain why Yuffie was so far east of her home. Cloud had always wondered. "And Zack joined trying to find out about Vincent."

"I was so mad at him. Didn't he know that they were fighting my people? Aunt Rusha's people? Then he just went and joined them. And fought us. I know he was in some of the battles." There was pain there, and Cloud didn't think he could help her with that at all. Only time could do that, and talking to Zack. Hopefully, they'd be able to work things out.

"Still can't believe you and Vincent are related."

Yuffie laughed at that. "I know. I wonder if he used to be more friendly before. In any case..." She trotted up onto the porch, and popped Zack on the arm with a punch. Grinning, she sat down on the railing, and started chatting with them.

For a moment, Cloud felt very much the outsider. He was the only one in this place who wasn't related somehow, and he wondered if he really shouldn't leave.

Then he noticed that Zack was glancing at him, a faint smile on his face. It was one of his regular checks, always making sure of his people.

Zack needed him, for, if nothing else, moral support.

With a faint smile, Cloud went to join them on the porch, already ready to tease Vincent about being related to the most unlikely of people.


	8. Chapter 8

"Wark."

Chuckling, Zack ducked away from that beak, much to his bird's disgruntlement. He didn't feel like being trapped here for a half an hour because he let Buzzer here get a hold of his hair to tug on it until he was bored. Shifting so he was to the side, and had a tiny bit more protection, he continued to go over the bird, making him lift a foot so that Zack could go over it carefully. While Cloud made sure the stables he kept his birds in were the best, there was no substitute for going over the animal himself. That way he knew for sure if anything was off.

Checking over Buzzer's feet, one at a time, he was pleased. No cracking, the talons were intact and didn't show any signs of being damaged. They flexed well, and there was no signs of any soft spots. Not that Zack had expected any, but Gongaga did have a few spots that might have caused some sort of damage. And he did like riding around the woods.

Once he checked the boy's feet, Zack moved up, testing his legs, and was happy to see they were all good as well. Cloud had been out earlier checking on his girl, and he knew Vincent was planning the same. They were getting ready to head into cold weather, and none of them wanted a bird who could be hurt by either the long ride or the cold. And at least one of the birds would be carrying double, most likely Glaus, since Yuffie and Cloud were the two lightest people, and Yuffie was insisting that she was going to go along with them. Which meant they really needed to pick up some more cold weather gear. Which was hard to find in Gongaga, so they'd have to snag it further north. Along with a lot of other supplies. While Zack, Cloud, and Vincent might not feel the cold as sharply anymore, they would still do better if they were geared appropriately for the weather.

With warble, Buzzer leaned into Zack's hands as he moved from checking his legs to running his fingers through feathers, looking for any damaged ones or tender spots. It was also a impromptu scratching and semi-grooming session, which the bird obviously loved. Chuckling, Zack continued to check over the chocobo, with a lot of petting involved. Buzzer was a good bird, and friendly. Good for a person who was still recovering.

Though Zack was feeling a lot better than he had been. Just being here, home and stuffed whenever his mom decided he needed food, Zack figured he'd put on a good twenty pounds in the last month. Sparring with the others, slow at first, and only now starting to reach areas he considered normal, had helped as well. Zack -hated- being off his game, and just having good food and exercise was helping him get back up to speed.

They were planning on heading north from here, stopping at a few of the smaller towns between here and Bone Village area, and with the golds, they wouldn't have to find other ways across the water.

Which, Zack had at admit, was just too cool.

From Bone Village, they had one stop up further north. Cloud hadn't wanted to go, but Zack was pretty determined. And Cloud wasn't quite ready to let Zack out of his sight. Which was fine by Zack. He was still catching up on what had happened the last half dozen years since Nibelheim. So much had happened, and it was still a lot to take in.

Stretching, Zack finished going over Buzzer, then he went to get the grooming kit, which got a trill of joy. Yeah, Zack had a spoiled bird, but he was okay with that.

"You are spoiled," a shove to get the bird off of him, and Zack grinned. A month ago, he couldn't have done that. It was good to see that he was recovering as much as the doctors Reeve had found had promised. Seemed that being a SOLDIER had a few more benefits than expected, and both the Jenova and the mako in his system had been working overtime to get him back into fighting form. Still, thin as he was, he was a lot healthier than he had been. Which was the only reason his mom and dad weren't as hesitant about letting him go. Because he was visibly better, healthier. That was good, because, as much as he loved his parents, Zack was going to go nuts if he had to stay here. He had left Gongaga for a reason, and as much as he needed the rest, he was still as easily bored as before.

Thankfully, his mom knew that and had only made him promise to contact them on a regular basis.

Drawing the brush through gold feathers, Zack grinned at the happy little warbles from Buzzer. At least he had a good chocobo to ride along the way. "Hope you are ready for the cold," he murmured. Though Cloud said that some of the birds in this line were from the Icicle Inn region, which meant good, hardy stock.

This...was going to be a hard enough trip without having to worry about the cold and the monsters. Zack knew it was going to be, saying his good-byes this way, but it felt right. He already missed his girl, even if he didn't remember most of his time in the tanks, even the sense of time passing, but she was gone, and he felt he had to do something. It had taken a while to get the story of what had happened from everyone, but he didn't blame Cloud for a thing. Though it was taking time to thump that through his skull. Slowly, though, Zack was making progress.

He still couldn't believe Seph had done all of this, and he wished that things had turned out differently...

Life was life, though. He was alive, Spike was alive, most of the people he cared about were alive. He would focus on that, and move on.


	9. Chapter 9

Cloud...did not want to be here. He did not want to be doing this. Unless he had to, and on only one specific day of the year, Cloud tried not to even think of this place. Much less bring people he cared for here.

To bring Zack here...

If his friend hadn't asked to come, Cloud could have happily avoided it. Not that he had expected otherwise. Aeris had been the reason they had been heading for Midgar, and it would have been stupid to expect anything other than a visit to the place where she had died. Didn't mean he had to like it, though, when Zack had asked. But how was he supposed to say no, especially when Zack gave him a tired, sad look?

Answer was, well, he couldn't, and when Zack had been able to convince his mother that he wouldn't die instantly by riding out of Gongaga, they had packed up and started north. As Zack was still recovering, though doing better than before, they had taken their time, trying to make sure that everyone was doing okay. Zack wasn't the only one. Cloud had worried enough over Yuffie the -first- time they had started going this far north, and it hadn't gotten any easier the second time, though they were much better prepared this go around. Amazing what one could do by actually stopping at Bone Village and getting supplies. Especially this time of year, when fall and winter were starting to mingle.

The place...still looked as ghostly as ever. With the trees doing that weird thing of theirs, which was saying something, given what Cloud had seen before, it was easy to follow the path to the place the Ancients used to live. Those shell like homes were brilliant and white, and Cloud really did hate them. Coming here always seemed to lead to more hurt.

In any case, he made sure the chocobos were settled, and that they could pull reins and run if something attacked them, though Cloud wasn't sure if he had -ever- seen a predator in these woods. Which made them different from about ninety percent of the rest of the world. Still, Cloud wasn't going to risk the birds.

He could -feel- Zack fidget, but he didn't, couldn't, force himself to move any faster. This place still...hurt. It was here where he realized just how under Sephiroth's control he was, even if he had fought off the threads that almost forced him to do something unimaginable. Even if it hadn't saved Aeris in the end. He had just watched her die, right in front of him. Almost in arm's reach.

Shaking himself mentally, Cloud scowled at himself. They were here for Zack, not for him to brood over it. One last check of the birds, and Cloud looked at them. Vincent or Yuffie could lead just as well, but Zack had asked Cloud. So Cloud would take him as far as he could.

It wasn't hard to find the stairs, and he just...stopped. The water glowed, as much as everything here did, and he just couldn't find it in himself to move forward.

Vincent rested a hand on his arm. "I'll guide him from here."

With a grateful look to his friend, Cloud then looked at Zack. "At the bottom of the stairs."

With that, he walked away. He could stand by the pool and talk to Aeris while Zack was down here, saying goodbye.

/~/

Zack made his way down the odd stairs, as Cloud called them. The weren't really stairs, but they worked like them, so Zack just went along with it. Vincent and Yuffie had stopped a bit further up, letting him have his privacy, but near enough they could still see him.

Cloud had gone...somewhere else. Not that Zack blamed him. It must have been hard, seeing what he had seen. It was hard, imagining it, and it made his heart hurt. Though Vincent said it appeared she didn't have a chance to feel fear, to feel pain, it still hurt. Though Zack was happy that she didn't. He remembered thinking he was going to die, how much it had -hurt-, feeling his lungs filling up with blood, everything going cold and numb. Never wanted that for anyone he cared about. Especially his girl.

Landing on the platform on the bottom, Zack looked at it quietly. In a way, this was the ending of two people for him. Not just Aeris, but Sephiroth as well.

Not that he was going to tell Cloud, but Zack could -almost- understand Nibelheim. Seph had been hurt in so many ways, for so long, that Zack expected him to have some sort of breakdown. He had been hoping that he could help contain it. Or, if he was lucky, head it off before it really began. Not that he had been able to do either, but he had expected it. Seph had died, and he and Cloud had ended up in the labs. Which gave him a -much- greater appreciation for what Seph must have gone through growing up.

This, though... There was no reason for Sephiroth to -do- this. To stab a person, who had never done him harm, and just kill them. As much to torture Cloud as to deal with any threat she might possess. More late night talks with Vincent had led him to that idea.

Seph had never been bloodthirsty. He did what he had to do, and Zack had -never- seen him gloat over it. Never seen him take real pleasure at killing people unless they had been fighters and could really -fight-. Then he enjoyed it. But a single woman, who didn't even know he was there, who had been so happy to see her friends...

So, really, here two of the people he cared for died. Aeris, gods, he had failed her so bad by not being there. He might not have been able to do anything, but to leave that guilt on Cloud was bad. It hurt two of his people. Sephiroth...

The Seph he knew was dead. There was no way that the man he had called friend would have done this. Ever.

Standing there, in the quiet, Zack said his good-byes to the people he had lost here.


	10. Chapter 10

Things had certainly changed, Vincent thought as he stood easily, waiting for Zack to do what he needed to do.

Even a few months ago, he had never expected the things that had come to pass to happen. He was a loner by nature, even before he had joined the Turks, and years in the lab, asleep and not, had only made the habit worse. But he was good at picking out changes in people.

Cloud, the one of the group that he had seen most, was...happier. Calmer. Though Vincent hadn't realized it before, the blond was always tense, always waiting for something. Now, however, there was a relaxation around him, an air of letting go. Vincent wondered if Cloud was afraid to let people get really close again. Just listening to the stories, watching the interaction between Cloud and Tifa as they had traveled around chasing Sephiroth told him a great deal. However close they were now, they had not been that way before. Cloud had apparently been a very reserved child, and Tifa the popular girl. The fact that he had worked up the courage to even tell her that he was going to Midgar in the first place was something of a surprise. Though they seemed to have become much better friends now.

Still, that meant that the one person Cloud had felt closest to in his hometown was his mother, who had died. Then years in a lab, followed by the supposed death of the man he claimed was his best friend. Later still, seeing Aeris's death, a woman that Cloud had let in.

Cloud cared. Too deeply at times, Vincent thought. He cared, and was continuously let down by those he cared for. Tifa hadn't really cared for him, not until later. Zack had, look at the fact that he had dragged a mako-poisoned Cloud halfway across the world, then fell protecting him. Aeris had said good-bye to Cloud. The only person she had said good-bye to.

Now, though, some of that wary expectancy seemed to have faded, and Cloud was smiling more now than Vincent ever remembered.

As for Vincent himself...

It hadn't crossed his mind, really, to hunt for his sisters. As far as he was concerned, they thought he was dead, and it was better for everyone if he had stayed that way. He had no idea of how the demons would respond to the concept of family, and he did care for his little sisters, so he kept danger away from them.

Well, at least that was what he had told himself at first, but Vincent knew very well on why he really didn't go looking for them.

He was afraid.

They had been so young when he had seen them last, and it had been over thirty years. They would have grown up, grown older. It would have been yet another jarring reminder that he wasn't human anymore. At least not like he once was. That he would always be different. They were Wutian, true, and a long lived people who changed little, but there was a difference between changing little and not changing at -all-. A massive difference, one that he didn't want to contemplate.

Though it seemed his nephew had other plans.

Shaking his head mentally, Vincent wondered what had been going through the boy's head. Especially once he heard -why- Zack had joined. Going hunting for a missing Turk uncle was a good way to get yourself killed if the wrong person found out. Even if he was your mom's very much loved older brother, and you though it would be cool to know him. Almost as cool as being in SOLDIER in the first place, being a hero to people.

If Zack was any younger, Vincent would have had a few choice comments.

But he was in his twenties, and Vincent highly doubted that any comments he had to make would get through that spiky black head of his. Zack was just as stubborn as all of his family, and Vincent had to smile at the idea of Rusha trying to deal with her headstrong child. Served her right, as well.

It was nice, in a way, to know that his sister loved him that much. Even if she was less than thrilled to see her son follow, in a way, her brother's footsteps. Especially after the war had really started. Yuffie still huffed at Zack for that on a regular basis, muttering about him joining SOLDIER, who were tearing through Wutai at the time. Zack told her it was cooler than being a ninja. Which just set her off, and Vincent -knew- that was the response Zack was going for.

That, actually, had gotten Zack smacked upside the hand with his not-clawed hand. Though he had been tempted to use the claws. A ranting Yuffie wasn't something anyone wanted. Now that he knew who her mother was, Vincent could -definitely- see his sister Mara in the girl. And they both reminded him of a dimly remembered figure, their mother's father, Naru. Loud, talkative, and just as likely to hit you when you weren't looking.

Letting the thoughts tumble through his mind, Vincent waited for a long moment to make sure that Zack was steady on his feet, so far down below, and then withdrew some, tugging Yuffie with him. Zack deserved privacy for this, and it was easier to just move upwards again, not far. Up enough to smell the snow that was being promised by clouds he couldn't see from here, but still close enough to hear if Zack went down. The splash would be loud, he was sure.

Vincent knew what it was like, saying good-bye to someone you loved, and he was willing to give Zack the time that he needed.

There would be plenty of time, after this, to really get to know his family again. And to learn how to deal with them all over again.

The End

**Just wanted to say thank you for all of you guys who review. You are what really make me want to write more, instead of just playing with the ideas in my head. I hoped you've enjoyed my story, and, again, I'm thankful for you. **


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